He has already been stripped of some of his influence after the Prime Minister moved his top aide and Brexit co-ordinator Olly Robbins into Downing Street to report directly to her.

An ally of the Brexit Secretary told the Daily Telegraph: "The role of the Brexit Secretary is being impinged on right, left and centre. I am seriously concerned that David Davis is being marginalised.

"If you look at the way Olly Robbins has usurped his function, and now you have this. I’m getting really quite concerned about David’s role.

"This suggestion that Boris should take on some of his ministerial functions. It does seem to me that there would be a loss of focus if Boris was to take on a bigger Brexit role."

Other ministers reportedly in line for the chop are Tory chair Patrick McLoughlin, Education Secretary Justine Greening, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom.

BREXIT 'DELIVERY PHASE'

Meanwhile, Mr Davis is reportedly set to tell mandarins they have “no excuses” for failing to be ready for Brexit - including a no deal scenario - in a bid to speed up the planning process.

A Whitehall source told the same paper: "In the New Year the Government is moving from a planning phase to a delivery phase. We will be removing the excuses some departments have for not being ready.

"The intention is to ensure we are ready to deliver Brexit whatever is negotiated in Brussels, and while the chance of a 'no deal' scenario has fallen, we will still be prepared."

Contributions from readers

graham669

09:10 on 1st January 2018

So the PM could be planning to put the clown in charge of the brexit circus, and is still determined, against public and parliamentary pressure, not to give anybody an opportunity to stop brexit if it is bad for Britain, which of course it is.
Brexit is not a done deal, and it most certainly should not be, without full consultation, and approval of the British people.
Why is she steam rollering this policy, despite the fact that the 2016 advisory referendum has been proven to be a farce, with the electorate being lied to every day, funded by billionaires with their own insidious agenda.
May and the government do not have any semblance of a mandate to pursue brexit as they are, they claim to have a mandate because it suits their not so subtle, insidious agenda, of helping the very wealthy continue to avoid paying tax.
Brexit is the only way to stop this EU directive from becoming UK law in 2019/20: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/company-tax/anti-tax-avoidance-package/anti-tax-avoidance-directive_en